Amritsar, June 21
Angry over the “casual attitude” of the Punjab State Power Corporation management, the PSEB Engineers Association today decided to continue its agitation programme.

The protesting engineers wore black badges and switched off their mobile phones for two-and-a-half hours (11 am to 1.30 pm) even though they worked extra time.

The association raised the issues concerning consumer services and the working conditions of engineers.

Mandeep Singh, the regional secretary of the association, said they had been protesting since June 11 in a peaceful manner.

“Our members working in distribution, generation and transmission departments have been putting in extra efforts so that the general public is not harassed. We are committed to provide uninterrupted power supply even during the strike but the management has shown a totally indifferent attitude towards our issues and is compelling us to intensify our protest,” Mandeep said.

Ishwar Dass, the joint secretary of the association, said the management was not strengthening the management of coal which was critical for managing the operational plants and upcoming thermal plants as well.

Referring to a recent circular on the limitation and outsourcing of vehicles for field engineers, the agitating engineers said the management had actually decreased the limit of journey of field engineers by clubbing the out-of-sphere journey in the existing limit.

This means that a field engineer posted in faraway places like Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur etc will exhaust his monthly limit in just two days in case he has to visit Patiala or Chandigarh for official work, they claimed.

They said the officials of executive ranks had to remain present in person at consumer complaint hearing before the forum in Patiala or Chandigarh.

The field engineers, they said, were required to visit the headquarters, zonal offices or circle offices for official visits.

“The management’s decision clearly shows that it has cut itself off from practical realities or just does not want to improve consumer services. The expenditure on outsourcing vehicles is negligible in comparison to wasteful expenditure of Rs 7.25 crore spent on building guest houses which are not required by the PSPCL,” an engineer argued. 

Amritsar, June 21
The All-India Women Conference (AIWC) organised a camp on biodiversity conservation at Sharifpura near bus stand here.

The camp was inaugurated with the plantation of tree saplings by chief guest Gurinder Singh Majithia, senior engineer environment. Prof Daljit Kaur of Commerce Department, Government College for Women, was also present on the occasion.

The Ministry of Environment through the Punjab State Council of Science & Technology had sanctioned two awareness camps to AIWC on biodiversity and environmental conservation.

Prem Duggal, general secretary, gave a floral welcome to the chief guest.

AIWC patron Ranjit Chatha said environment conservation was vital for better quality of life. Chatha regretted that rapid increase in population and mismanaged industrialisation were responsible for further depletion and contamination of groundwater and called for stringent measures to arrest this trend.

A play was staged by children and songs on environment were sung to create awareness about the hazards of environmental contamination and misuse.

Majithia informed the audience about the United Nations’ slogan on environment of three R’s - reuse, reduce and recycle.

The programme ended with distribution of tree saplings to all those present. Parkash Budhiraja, MK Soch, Jasbir Kaur, Dr Krishna Beri and Kamlesh Sharma were also present on the occasion. Usha Chaba, general treasurer, presented a vote of thanks.

Amritsar, June 21
The Finance Ministry's clarification that take-away and home delivery of food would not attract service tax has come as a reprieve for city-based restaurants and hotels.

Many restaurants have opened up take-away and pressed in home delivery services to serve ready-to-eat food to its customers over the years.

A host of take-away outlets have sprung up in the holy city. Offering a range of cuisines at prices less than those being charged by restaurants, these joints have become a hit with the local residents.

The trend was swiftly followed by a majority of hotels and restaurants. Some of these hotels and restaurants like Sun City Towers, Crystal, Food Channel, Adarsh, Prakash, Watz cooking, Bukhara and others have opened up window outlets to serve to take-away orders.

Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHRA) president APS Chatha said these outlets could also be described as window restaurants. The owners usually press in some staff at these outlets to take orders and supply while they use the same kitchen which has already been used to serve customers at their restaurants.

Given a plethora of taxes, including above four per cent service tax to savour cooked food in AC restaurants, he said the trade would pick up even furthermore in the near future. These eating joints are generally constructed in a way that they are easily visible to commuters. 

Amritsar, June 21
After religious organisations, members of three clubs of the city have extended a helping hand to the pilgrims, who have got stranded at Uttarakhand due to flash floods.

Members of the Amritsar Club, Services Club and Lumsdon Club today handed over cheques for Rs 1 lakh each to Deputy Commissioner (DC) Rajat Aggarwal. These cheques will be dispatched to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. Present on the occasion were president of the Amritsar Club Sukhdev Singh Chhina, president of Services Club Lalit Mohan Chandok and president of Lumsdon Club Mohan Lal Arora, besides other members of the clubs. — TNS

Amritsar, June 21
Two drug peddlers dodged the police and escaped from the Mehta police station late last evening.

The peddlers, identified as Sahib Singh and Kehar Singh, both residents of Gaggarbhana village, had been arrested last afternoon with a huge quantity of habit-forming drugs and narcotics by the Mehta police. They were lodged in a barrack of the police station.

Separate cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act were registered against them. The police had recovered about 1,200 capsules and tablets of proscribed drugs from the possession of Sahib Singh, while Kehar Singh was arrested with around 150 gm of narcotics.

Sahib Singh, called a policeman deputed in the police station and complained that he was feeling uneasiness and fell down. As soon as the policeman opened the barrack and tried to check him, he pushed him away and ran away along with his accomplice.

Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Rajinder Pal, on whose statement a case has been registered, said he was present in the police station regarding an official meeting with the Station House Officer (SHO) when he heard noises from outside the office. He said head constable Shamsher Singh while running towards the office narrated the whole instance.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Sahib Singh called head constable Banarsi Das saying that he was feeling uneasiness in the chest and asked head constable Shamsher Singh to open the barrack.

While Shamsher went to bring some water, Sahib Singh fled away pushing Banarasi Dass, who had opened the barrack in order to check him, and also took Kehar Singh with him.

Avtar Singh, SHO, Mehta police station, said both the policemen and the absconding drug peddlers had been booked under Sections 223 and 224 of the IPC. Following the registration of the case, action had been initiated for the suspension of the policemen from service.

Amritsar, June 21
Despite the fact that the local court had directed the police authorities to immediately admit a minor girl, who was kept in illegal detention in the C-Division police station, to Nari Niketan in Jalandhar, police officials failed to do so. The family alleged that the girl was again kept in illegal custody for the night and was shifted to the Nari Niketan only this afternoon. She was produced before the court yesterday.

It may be recalled that the 16-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped by two youths of Gurdaspur, who were later arrested by the police. But instead of handing over the girl to the family or admitting her to Nari Niketan, the police kept the girl in illegal custody for a couple of days.

Even the abduction case was registered only after the family approached senior police officials. The city police has shifted the SHO to the Police Lines and an inquiry was marked to an ACP-rank officer in this connection.

However, Girl's family members today alleged that police officials were pressurising them to reach a compromise with the accused. They also demanded registration of a criminal case against Jarnail Singh, SHO, besides a couple of other policemen for their involvement in harassing them.

Swarn Kaur, grandmother of the victim, claimed that the girl was pressurised to give statement in favour of the accused. She alleged that the Police Department was dithering on taking action against the accused.

Amritsar, June 21
Amarjit Kaur, sarpanch of Dinewali village in Ajnala, has been booked for embezzling funds to the tune of Rs 50,000, released under the MNREGA Scheme.

Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) had lodged a complaint with the Ajnala police in this regard, following which a case under Sections 420 and 409 of the IPC was registered against her. However, no arrest has been made so far.

The BDPO alleged that the village panchayat was sanctioned a grant for cleaning up the village pond. He said during inspection it was found that the sarpanch embezzled around Rs 54,000 from the government grant issued for the project under the MNREGA Scheme. Davinder Singh, investigating officer, said the case was registered following a probe carried out by the BDPO. — TNS

Amritsar, June 21
The police arrested a person for cutting the horns of a stray cow, but later released him.

On a tip-off, a four-member team of the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) with a police team raided a house of Phuman Singh at Aman Avenue on the Majitha road last night. Following resistance from the family, the raid lasted about five hours and it ended at nearly 2 am.

Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, Dr Jagdish Chander Shori said the cow was brought to the SPCA premises. He said the animal had wounds after crude cutting of horns and bacteria growth was found on one of the wounds. He added that it would take nearly a month for healing. He directed a doctor to prepare a report of the wound and further action would be based on it. Pain killers and injections were administered to the cow.

The stray animal, which was pregnant, delivered a pre-mature calf after a painful cutting of horns.

The four-member team of the SPCA comprised three executive members Surinder Kewalani, Varinder Sehdev and Kiran Kanujia, besides its inspector Ashok Joshi.

The SHO of the Majitha bypass police chowki, Harjit Singh, said a police team had accompanied the SPCA team to provide security. About the registration of the FIR he said it would be registered only after receiving the medical report.

Phuman Singh was held by the police, but later released. Office-bearers of the SPCA feel that the horns of the cow were cut so that the original owner of the animal could not identify it.

Amritsar, June 21
The Cantonment police has booked a Head Constable for allegedly trespassing into a shop located on the Cemetery road in Putlighar area. The policeman is alleged to have decamped with goods kept inside the shop.

Balwant Singh, the complainant, said he was in possession of the shop since 1996 and due to health reasons he had given the same to Rakesh Kalia for its upkeep. In his complaint, he told the police that the accused, Kans Raj, broke open the shutters and lintel of the shop. He further said the accused was carrying illegal construction of stairs on his premises.

The police has registered a case under Section 447, 427 and 380 of the IPC in this regard. The police authorities said no arrest had been made so far and investigations were on. 

Amritsar, June 21
The Anti-Narcotic Cell of Amritsar rural police has arrested the owner of a chemist shop and seized huge quantity of habit-forming drugs from him in Baba Bakala area.

The accused has been identified as Gurinderbir Singh. The police recovered around 30,000 capsules and tablets from his possession.

Earlier, the police along with the Drug Department had seized over 6,000 capsules from the medical store of the same chemist.

In another raid, the police seized around 1,000 capsules of proscribed drugs from the possession of Raja Singh alias Raju of Adarsh Nagar Ajanla.

Amritsar, June 21
The city police has arrested a doctor for allegedly preparing fake medical certificate of a person who had come to District Transport Office for preparing a driving license.

The accused has been identified as Dr Ravi Kant Pandey.

As per the guidelines, it is mandatory to attach a medical certificate with the documents before submitting it to the DTO for making a driving license.

Newly appointed District Transport Officer, Lovedeep Kalsi got a tip-off that Dr Ravi Kant had opened a shop near the office and issued medical certificates.

Dr Pandey was suspended by the district administration for alleged corrupt practices when he was deputed in the Suvidha Kendra of the DTO.

The Deputy Commissioner received numerous complaints that he was preparing medical certificates even without the presence of the applicants.

Kalsi lodged a complaint with the Cantonment police and he has been booked on the charges of fraud. Kalsi said though Pandey had been suspended by the Deputy Commissioner, he issued medical fitness certificates to Varinder Kumar, Tarlochan Singh and Sandeep Kumar illegally.

Talwinder Singh, investigating officer, said it was found during investigations that the Deputy Commissioner had cancelled his authority of issuing any medical certificate in the month of January after he prepared fitness certificate of a handicapped person.

This time, he had opened a shop in front of the DTO office rent and took Rs 70 for issuing a certificate.